Women's Basketball

ISLANDERS END REGULAR SEASON WITH LOSS TO UT ARLINGTON

Mar 07, 2009

The Texas
A&M-Corpus Christi women's basketball team lost its final game
of the regular season to regular season Southland Conference
champion UT Arlington by a 78-61 score. Saturday was also senior day for the
Islanders as they recognized center Sarah
Davidson and team manager Aubrie Lysinger for their
contributions to the TAMUCC program.

The Islanders
fall to 11-18 overall and 6-10 in SLC action while the Mavericks
improved to 20-9, including a 14-2 mark in SLC play.

Deziree
Green of the Islanders and Candice Champion of UTA held a
shootout on the floor at the
American Bank Center. Green
scored a career-high 28 points to lead the Islanders but Champion
got the better of the battle as she also scored a career-high,
netting 34 points to lead the Mavericks to the win.

"We did not do
a good job of fronting Champion like we wanted to," said head coach
Robert
Robinson. "We were not able to limit her touches like we wanted
to."

In the first
half, Jade
Davis opened the game for the Islanders with a three-pointer to
give them the early lead.
The Mavericks responded with back-to-back buckets from Tamara
Simmons and Champion to take a one point lead at 4-3. Myeisha
Myles put a layup in to take the lead back at 5-4 early on.

UTA took the
lead back but the Islanders would not let them pull away early on,
keeping the margin close all the way to 18-14 with 12:47 left in
the half. The Mavericks
went on a run to take a 31-16 lead at 9:19 left in the first
half.

The teams
could not do much the rest of the half, as neither team would make
a run to close the gap or extend the lead. The teams would go into halftime with
the score at 42-30.

In the second
half, the Islanders made some key runs to cut into the lead as they
got the margin down to seven points at three different times in the
second half. With the score
at 50-37 in favor of UTA, the Islanders got a three-pointer from
Green, a free throw from LaToya
Thomas, a pair of free throws each from Green and Davis to cut
the lead to seven at 52-45.
Champion put the lead to 54-45 with a layin but Myles responded
with one of her own to close the lead back to seven at 54-47.

The Islanders
were able to keep it to a seven point lead at 59-52 with 8:46 left
in the game before the Mavericks went on a run to close out the
game. UTA outscored the
Islanders 19-9 over the last 8:29 to finish the scoring at 78-61
with Champion getting the bulk of the points.

"We were able
to stop Champion at times but we did not do it consistently
enough," said Robinson. "We did a good job on her when we were
fronting her but could not do it throughout the game."

The Islanders
were led in scoring by Green with her 28 while Davis added 13 as
the only other Islanders in double digits. Myles had a team-high 10 rebounds
while adding eight points.

The Islanders
now await their fate as McNeese won earlier in the day, so the
season now hinges on the outcome of the Sam Houston at Texas State
game. If Sam Houston wins,
the Islanders qualify for the tournament as the eighth seed. If Texas State wins, the
Islanders are eliminated from contention for the spot. Tipoff of that game is scheduled for a
2 PM start on Sunday afternoon.

"It's a little
bit agonizing having to wait and see," said Robinson. "It's never a
good thing when you have to leave things in someone else's
hands.